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Does C-suite culture change its suit at passport control? Hackneyed stereotypes about brash Americans and tweedy Brits might simply be myths, as national boundaries between talent pools get eroded.

Leading recruiters with years of experience in global, C-suite-search share three keys: You need to learn these lessons if you’re hiring—or hope to be hired—on the other side of the pond...

1. Go Digital, Young Man: The USA Blazes A Trail And The UK Follows

Should you tap LinkedIn or your real-life network?

It depends on location, according to Oliver Watson, Managing Director of executive of PageGroup:

The biggest difference I see between executive positions in the UK and the USA is the fact that North Americans are, so far, much more willing to embrace technology. They’ll happily use social media and alumni sites. In the UK, a senior executive looking for a role is still very unlikely to network with their peers online.

Meanwhile, Lisa Gerhardt, leader of Boyden’s global consumer practice, has long experience carrying out search work for U.S. and European companies looking for senior hires. In her view, social media is fast becoming essential on both sides of the Atlantic:

Social media technologies—things like LinkedIn—allow us to have a view of the candidate pool that simply wasn’t there 10 years ago. Now, even for private companies, senior-level managers are pretty easy to find.

But she advises you can’t just build a social media profile when you plan to move jobs. Skillful use is a huge plus:

For some industries, people who aren’t visible on social media tend to be below the radar: They risk giving the impression that they aren’t relevant or current. ... Good executives like being able to talk positively about their organization – both to customers and as a way of being visible to their employees too.

2. The Globalized Market Knows No Bounds

N. American and European businesses are more in tune than ever. The days of “two cultures separated by a common language” seem to have come to an end—especially when it comes to executive-level employment.

Watson has been travelling frequently between the USA and the UK as he supervises Page Group’s expansion. He was repeatedly warned by well-meaning colleagues that things would be very different overseas.

I ask if he’s personally noticed any distinctions between the two cultures. “I actually found it was a very similar market. With the exception of New York, no other market is as dynamic as London.”

“These days the borders have come down,” confirms Gerhardt. “Organizations are looking for talent on a global basis. For example, they want the very best CIO or HR director; not just best in their own market but the best in the world.”

3. A Transatlantic Hire Can Trip The Unwary

That’s not to say that there aren’t challenges in hiring from overseas.

According to Gerhardt, the regulatory differences and organizational mores between the USA and the UK can take some organizations by surprise. For example, private companies in the UK are much more likely to disclose information about the size of the organization, financial figures and strategy documents, whereas U.S. companies tend to be much more cautious.

However, U.S. companies tend to be far more proactive about diversity, though European businesses are catching up.

The pace of hiring in the USA can also take the Brits by surprise—and vice versa. The biggest difference, says Watson, is the size of the market. There are far more senior executives and more roles to go around in the USA, so hiring tends to be leaner and lighter:

In the United States, [a senior executive post] can be wrapped up in a couple of weeks—but that just won’t happen in the UK. On both sides of the Atlantic, the process is gone into in depth, but over here in the UK, it’s much more considered. A Senior Executive on $250,000 still counts as a big-ticket purchase. In New York? Well who isn’t earning $250,000!

Take Home Points: Feet First, But Eyes Open

If you’re looking to hire—or be hired—in a global pool, it pays to embrace technology to really understand the state of the market.

It also helps to be aware of the significant regulatory differences on either side of the pond. But don’t let those differences put you off: according to Watson, the difference you’d encounter in a new state can be just as significant as overseas:

Sure, some companies have made dreadful mistakes, taking a UK blueprint and imposing it in the U.S. or vice versa. But senior-level recruitment is a very human process: I tend to find that people have the same fears and aspirations whether they’re American or English.